Betrayal
by KawaiiIruka
Summary: They were best friends, they went through hell together, untill one of them made a choice that the other could not understand. Iruka angst, he contemplates the past, and his best friends betrayal. [OneShot]


Disclaimer- I own nothing! cries! Well nothing except for the evil jounin Kouta-sensei, Kairi-chan, and the chuunin teacher.

Authors Note: Yeah, I've read a lot of Iruka fanfiction, but I haven't read many dealing with what happened in the beginning with Mizuki. So, here's my version.

Betrayal

The sun was what woke him from his nightmares. It was shining through his window lighting up the room and heating his face, annoying him awake. He turned his head to look at the clock on his bedside and gasped when he realized what the time was. Nine-Thirty! He was late for his class! He jumped out of bed only to collapse onto the floor letting out a small scream of agony.

It was then that he remembered the previous night's occurrences. He had the next three days off, the Hokage had personally made sure that he knew that if he came to class today that he would be escorted home by an ANBU. He moaned and slowly crawled back into his bed. He couldn't believe that he'd forgotten. Naruto could have died! He almost died! His eyes glazed over when he thought of the one who had almost killed them both. Mizuki, his best friend since his childhood. How could he have forgotten such a blow as that one?

Why? Why did Mizuki do it? How could he betray them like that? He would have been taken care off by now. He would have been considered a missing-nin, and he would have been dealt with as one. Iruka Umino sighed, Mizuki was gone, just like everyone else. But he had lost Mizuki before last night. He realized that now, he had lost him the second he had accepted Naruto as his student.

Flashback

Mizuki and Iruka were pulling an all-nighter at the latter's apartment, trying to finish their grading before the next morning as both had put it off till the last minute. Mizuki yawned and Iruka looked up at him from the paper that he was currently covering with red ink.

"Mizuki-kun, are you tired? I can finish off the rest here. You can take a nap in the spare room if you like." Mizuki shook his head and yawned again, causing Iruka to yawn. Mizuki laughed then got a serious look on his face.

"Did you hear," he asked, and Iruka could hear the hate and disgust in his voice, "The boy with the Kyuubi inside him has applied to enter the Academy." Iruka's eye's lowered and memories long buried brought themselves to the surface. He quickly pushed them away though as Mizuki continued talking. "I went straight to the Hokage, asking for permission to decline his request but he said no! Can you believe it? He told me that I shouldn't judge Naruto (that's the brats name apparently) on the Kyuubi." Mizuki snarled then got an evil look on his face. "I decided that I'm just going to flunk the brat out. But I'll need your help Iruka."

Iruka snapped his eyes to Mizuki's face startled. "What?" he asked, not believing what he had come out of his friend's mouth. "Mizuki, there's no way that I would ever go along with something like that! It's un-ethical! Un-thinkable! It's unfair to the boy, he might have the Kyuubi in him but like the Hokage said, that doesn't mean he is the Kyuubi." Mizuki stared at Iruka with the same look that Iruka had given himself only a few moments ago.

"Iruka-kun, what are you saying?" asked Mizuki, dreading the answer. What was wrong with his friend? He hated the Kyuubi, it had taken away his family! Mizuki's eyes narrowed as Iruka turned his eyes away and stumbled over his words looking for an answer. Mizuki shot his hand forward and grabbed his friend by the chin in a vice like grip. Iruka stiffened and looked forward right into Mizuki's eyes. "What do you mean Iruka?" he asked again with growing impatience. Iruka tried to avoid his gaze but Mizuki's grip kept his head straight.

"Ah well," stumbled Iruka, trying to find the right words. "After you went to the Hokage, um, he summoned me and we talked." A pause, "about Naruto," Iruka clamped his eyes shut, waiting for his friend explosion, when none came he opened his eye to find Mizuki staring at him.

"Continue," said Mizuki, removing his hand from Iruka's chin. Iruka sat back in his chair and averted his gaze. He thought quickly trying to find the words to tell his friend what had happened. He couldn't lie, he knew that much. Mizuki and he had been friend far too long for that to fool him. Iruka swallowed and looked his friend square in the eye, and blurted out what had taken place.

"The Hokage asked me to be his teacher, I told him I didn't want to be but then he brought the boy in and told me to take him out for Ramen and that we should get to know each other. The boy looked really happy when the Hokage mentioned free ramen and I had no choice in the matter. So I took him to Ichiraku and bought some ramen and he started talking to me and I started listening and he's not really a bad kid, so I went back to the Hokage and I told him that I would teach him!" Iruka was left panting slightly as his friend's eyes widened. Mizuki couldn't believe it, his friend had taken the Kyuubi out for ramen! Mizuki narrowed his eyes, he couldn't believe this. The Kyuubi had done something to Iruka. He had gotten into his head, pulled a genjutsu on him. He narrowed his eyes as a plot started forming in his mind. Then he masked his face and smiled at his friend, relaxing Iruka a bit.

"Well," he said "if you don't think he's a bad kid then I guess I'll take your word for it." Iruka nodded and accepted the words as true. But Mizuki's hate for the Kyuubi and the boy whose body sealed him was only growing stronger.

End Flashback

Iruka rolled over and buried his head in his pillow. How could he have been so stupid! Mizuki had hated the Kyuubi, he would have never accepted him just because Iruka had, no matter how good of friends they were! Iruka hated himself for not noticing it sooner, but he had thought Mizuki was his friend. He had been there for Iruka when times were tough, he had been on Iruka's genin team and they had passed the Chuunin Exam's together. They had decided together to become teachers instead of Jounins, although they both possessed the poetential. Looking back, Iruka had always believed whatever his friend told him. He had accepted the older man as family as an older brother when the rest of his family was gone. Slowly he got out of bed and made his way towards the door. More memories flowing back into his mind even as he turned the shower on and undressed to take his shower.

Flashback

Young Iruka Umino was running as fast as his legs could carry him. He laughed to himself as he heard the Chuunin teacher following after him, screaming curse words and death threats. He dodged to the left down an alley way when he heard the teacher closing in. There was a fence at the end of the alley, but that didn't stop him, he was a ninja after all! He jumped on top of the fence glancing to see his sensei panting and moving slower than he had that morning, of course, Iruka couldn't blame him. They had been running for hours and his teacher was getting old. Of course, he didn't want to end his fun yet, so he purposely stopped on the fence while pointing and laughing at his sensei. That seemed to rejuvenate the man and he snarled forming the hand seals and yelling "Kage-Bunshi-No-Jutsu!" Iruka gasped Shadow clones! He hadn't expected that. He quickly jumped off the fence onto the roof of the nearest building and ran for dear life. He dodged the clones for a little while, after all, they were fatigued just like the original, but Iruka was slowing down himself. Suddenly he felt one of the clones snap the file that he had stolen from the Academy from his hands. He cursed, he hadn't learned anything yet! But he decided that at that moment it was best to forget it and try again later.

The shadow clones were every where it seemed. They surrounded him and he was trapped. He narrowed his eyes and thought to himself. 'I cannot get caught!' and in a moment of desperation ran at one of the clones. It moved to catch him but at the last minute he focused his chakra into his feet and plowed into the clone making it disappear in a puff of smoke. Then he ran, he didn't know where he was going, but he was running as fast as he could. He jumped across rooftops for awhile before jumping back onto the ground and running along the street. He checked behind him to see how far back the clones were and in the moment he ran into a fellow academy student. He looked up into the face of Mizuki, he didn't know the other boy's last name, and he had never cared to ask for it.

Mizuki stared at him for a moment then he looked up to see the shadow clones coming closer. Iruka was about it get up and run when Mizuki grabbed him by the arm and hauled him off the ground. Iruka thought that he was about to be turned in, but the other boy lead him into one of the shops on the street and pushed him into a back room. "Stay here" he commanded and quickly exited. Iruka waited for a moment listening to everything carefully. Then he heard the familiar panting of his tired teacher.

"Mizuki," wheezed the man, "Umino, which way did he go?" Iruka's shoulders slumped and he waited for the old man to come drag him back to the Academy. Instead he heard the calm voice of Mizuki.

"Umino Iruka," Mizuki sounded like he was considering something, "I haven't seen him since class yesterday Sensei." Iruka could feel the old mans glare from where he was. But people on the street had stopped talking and were listening intently. Iruka almost couldn't stifle his laugh when he heard his sensei huff and leave wheezing. Moments later Mizuki re-entered the room smiling like he had been told he was just made Hokage. Iruka couldn't contain it anymore. He burst out laughing and Mizuki joined him.

Thorough his laughter he held a hand out to the other boy and introduced himself, "Umino Iruka" the other boy was shaking so hard from laughing that they didn't need to move their arms to shake hands as he took Iruka's hand and introduced himself as "Mizuki." He didn't use a last name and Iruka didn't ask why.

End Flashback

Iruka couldn't help but smile as he remembered that day. He and Mizuki had been friends ever since. They had been so happy when they were put on the same genin team. Iruka thought his life could get no better. He was a genin! He was on a team with his best friend! Iruka stepped into the shower and let the hot water run over his hair and face. He noticed that he had removed the bandages on his body while in the memory. His face suddenly grew very hot and his eyes started to hurt, and besides that the water in his shower tasted salty. Of course life as a genin wasn't easy, not when you sensei was a tough talking coward.

Flashback

It was his teams third mission, they had only had C-Ranked missions before, but their Sensei's big mouth had gotten them in deep again and thus, Kouta-sensei had taken a B-Ranked mission telling the Chuunin at the mission desk that he was taking this one for himself when he was really getting it for his team.

Iruka and Mizuki knew that they we're in for a mission harder than they should have been allowed to take, but both felt the challenge would make them stronger. They wanted to go on the mission, and that was why they didn't tell Kairi-chan, the third member of their team and a tattle-tale that it was a B-Ranked mission. They knew that she would tell someone and the mission would be canceled. The mission seemed simple enough, they were going as an envoy to the Land of Wind to confirm the peace treaty. Both Iruka and Mizuki thought that it would be a piece of cake. They go in receive some signed papers and they come home, they didn't realize why this was ranked a B mission, and they wouldn't know, not until they were on their way home.

The mission had gone well so far. They had crossed the desert to the Village Hidden in the Sand without any trouble. They had received the peace treaty from the Kazekage, and now they were on their way home. But something was troubling Kouta-sensei. He was acting skittish, jumping at everything that made a noise. The darkness was growing when they found an oasis. Kouta-sensei told them that they would rest here for the night and as the three genin sat their things down and began making camp, he quietly slipped away into the growing darkness of night.

It was Kairi who noticed his absence first. She dropped her job of putting up her tent and walked out of the oasis yelling, "Kouta-sensei! Kouta-sensei! Where did you go?" It took Iruka and Mizuki only a moment to process what had happened, they glanced at each other in panic and sprang into action. Mizuki doused the fire they had created and filled the water jugs while Iruka ran out to get Kairi. He grabbed her around the middle and covered her mouth with his other hand, while whispering in her ear, "We're being followed, Kouta deserted us. Be quiet we have to get out of here." That was all he needed to say for Kairi to shut up. Her eyes narrowed and the young kunoichi drew a kunai from her weapon pouch on her leg as they ran back to the camp to help Mizuki with the water.

As they neared the camp they heard sounds of metal clashing against metal. When they came into view they saw Mizuki fighting off another ninja armed with two kunai knives. The blood drained from Iruka's face as he saw his friend take an injury to the arm. Letting go of Kairi he told her to stay put and made the hand seals for the Head Hunter jutsu, a jutsu that he and Mizuki had practiced in their spare time since they felt that Kouta-sensei's lessons were worthless. He crawled under the sand until he found the presence of the enemy ninja. He waited until be put his foot down and Iruka snatched his foot, pulling him underneath the earth. He exited the earth extremely tired, he had used too much chakra for the jutsu and it had exhausted him. He felt a hand capture the back of his shirt and he was pulled up so that his feet could no longer touch the ground. He was staring in the scared face of a ninja wearing a hidden in the sand hitai-ate. The man grinned showing blackened teeth and punched Iruka hard in the gut. He was out like a light.

When he woke up he tried to make sense of the situation. He was tied up and for some reason he couldn't access his chakra. He opened his eyes searching the room he was in. He saw Kairi, looking terrible and unconscious on the wall to his left and on the wall in front of him lean Mizuki, eyes open staring at him. Iruka crawled, in the most degrading way, towards Mizuki and when he sat up next to him Mizuki leaned forward and whispered into his ear.

"I went down a little while before you came out of the ground. Then you came out and the Sand guy grabbed you, Kairi-chan saw him get you and she came out of hiding." With a look of pride he added, "she nailed a guy in the neck with a shuirken." Then his gaze turned again to sadness, they brought her down shortly after that and I feel unconscious." He lowered his gaze and spoke so Iruka could barely hear him, "She wasn't here when I woke up, they brought he in later, she was in a state," he was stumbling for words now. He looked up at Iruka, "She wouldn't talk to me, she just went into that corner and started crying and holding onto herself." Mizuki would speak no further, of course, Iruka didn't need him too.

It didn't take them very long to decide what needed to be done. Iruka turned around and Mizuki began tearing at the back of his jacket with his teeth. Iruka had kunai and shuriken hidden there, just incase of an emergency like this one. It took them awhile but eventually Mizuki had torn through the jacket and torn out a kunai. He began cutting Iruka's bonds when he noticed that Kairi had woken up and was staring at them with a blank look on her face. Mizuki pointed this out to Iruka and as soon as their bonds we're broken the both hurried to Kairi's side. They shook her from her stupor and sliced her bonds. As soon as she was free she grabbed the kunai from Mizuki's hands and ran to the side of the room on the doors blind side. Realizing what she was doing, Iruka and Mizuki both grabbed an assortment of weapons from Iruka's stash, giving several shuriken's to Kairi while she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"HEY! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! LET ME OUT! I'VE GOTTA USE THE BATHROOM!" Soon enough they hear a grumbling man outside the door, unlocking it. The three genin all prepared themselves, when the door opened, they pounced as one. Iruka took out his legs, Mizuki took out his arms, and Kairi plunged her kunai right into his heart. Mizuki and Iruka stared at her for a moment in shock, she was livid, a snarl was forming on her face. She glared at them, but remained silent then she stole out the door with the boys following her.

They had reached the doors when Iruka, who was last, was grabbed from behind. He let out a small strangled noise and Mizuki and Kairi turned. Iruka was being held off the ground, a kunai at his throat. The man holding him was laughing he was saying something, but Iruka wasn't listening. He was focused on Kairi and Mizuki trying to tell them to run, to get away while they still could. But Kairi narrowed her eyes and Mizuki shook his head, then they charged.

Iruka focused his chakra into his elbow and in one swift movement jabbed said elbow into them mans ribs while pulling his neck away from the kunai. He managed to get a hit in on the man, grabbing his kunai and smashing it into his neck, and then he joined Mizuki and Kairi battling the never ending flow of ninjas. There were ninjas coming out of the woodwork it seemed, as soon as the three genin brought one down, another would join the fight in his place. They were slowly making their way to the door, they knew if they made it that far, they at least stood a chance. But out of the blue came a man who sliced at Iruka. Iruka dodged and was suddenly separated from his friends. He tried fighting his way through but that one ninja kept blocking him. Iruka growled and jumped in close, trying to make a killing blow only to find a kunai slashing its way across his face. He stumbled backwards in a daze, the man was smiling, blood lust evident in his eyes, when then s shuriken seemed to have grown out of the side of his head. The Mizuki was there supporting him as they ran out the doors and took off across the desert. They could see the trees of the Land of Fire, meaning that they were not in the Village Hidden in the Sand. These were most likely missing-nin.

That thought seemed to wake Iruka up and he let go of Mizuki and began to run on his own and the three genin began to run faster and faster, putting all their chakra into their feet and soon they were in the trees and they felt safe. But they did not stop running, not until they reached the greats oh Konoha were they truly safe.

They were escorted to the Hokage's office and arrived just in time to hear the end of Kouta's story about how he bravely battled the hundred missing-nin to save the young genin but sadly failed. The second the genin entered the room, Kouta paled and then he was stripped of his Shinobi rank was forced to leave the village.

End Flashback

Iruka stepped out of the shower but thoughts of that day still were in his mind. He had never seen Kouta again, nor had he wanted to. It had been hard enough keeping Kairi from killing him on sight, she had been screaming "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAPPENED TO ME YOU BASTARD! DO YOU EVEN CARE?" As soon as he was gone though, she had broken down crying. The day after that she had left to train with a stronger Kunoichi. Iruka had never seen her again, she had died on her tenth mission as a jounin. They never got a body back, so it was a terrible funeral.

He re-dressed his wounds and then dressed in casual clothes, and then he put a bowl of instant ramen in the microwave to cook. It was odd, after all, how many times had he told Naruto that ramen wasn't a breakfast food? Yet it seemed like ramen was all that he wanted. He had just finished eating and was contemplating reading a book on his couch when someone knocked on the door. He knew it wasn't Naruto, the boy would have just barged in. He stood as quickly as possible without injuring himself further and moved towards the door. It was an ANBU, with the mask of a hound, he inclined his head to Iruka before stating his business.

"The missing-nin was given the choice of one last request, he has requested to speak with you." Iruka's eyes glazed over and the ANBU said quickly, "Of course, you are under no orders, you don't have to go." But Iruka was already getting his coat. He wanted to see Mizuki, he realized, he wanted to know why. He stepped out of his house and locked it, then the ANBU put an arm around his waist and teleported them to wherever they were keeping Mizuki.

Mizuki was ranting when they arrived, telling the jounin and ANBU present some great story that held them all captivated. When he arrived Mizuki's eyes snapped to him and narrowed. Iruka walked forward only for Mizuki and snap at him.

"Why did you trust him! The Kyuubi has messed with your head! He's done it to all of you! He took my Iruka away from me." Mizuki's voice was softening then he started to cry. "He took my best friend from me. He wasn't spending time with me anymore, he just spent time with the Kyuubi brat." Then his voice turned to anger once again. "I'll kill them! I'll kill them both! Damn you Iruka! I hate you!"

Iruka's eyes began to water and he could not take it anymore. He had come here to see his friend, but his friend had died along time ago. It was not his friend who had betrayed him last night, it was a stranger. A different Mizuki, a Mizuki he didn't know.

A/N: Not Cannon I know, I don't know how Iru-kun got his scar, or who was on his genin team. This is pure fanon, plain and simple.


End file.
